Line #18 Main/CueTheBilliardShot


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/t2_billiard_350.png]]]]
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3	->''"You guys think bar scenes always have to start at a billiards shot?"''
4	-->-- '''[[MetaGuy Abed Nadir]]''', ''Series/{{Community}}'', "[[Recap/CommunityS6E13EmotionalConsequencesOfBroadcastTelevision Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television]]"
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6	This inherently punny Hollywood trope is where, all of a sudden, a pool table is shown at an angle. Balls are racked up and the player makes a shot. There is a satisfying "click" sound as balls fly off in all directions, then the camera pans up to show the player, typically a shady character, or a big BadassBiker in a cowboy hat. Bonus points if a jukebox is playing CountryMusic in the background.
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8	Related to BadGuysPlayPool, but this one is not a character trope, it's a scene-establishing device, showing that the scene is in a drinking establishment. It may range from a friendly LocalHangout in a good neighborhood to a rough and tumble roadhouse or even a BadGuyBar in a WretchedHive.
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10	Subtrope of EstablishingShot.
11	----
12	!!Examples:
13	[[foldercontrol]]
14	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
15	* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Spike playing pool at a bar is kicked off with a billiard shot.
16	[[/folder]]
17
18	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
19	* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' starts the bar scene with a pool table shot before it pans up to show the biker watching the T-800 enter.
20	* In ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'', the college bar scene opens with a pool table shot as Thumper demonstrates his pool prowess to Evan.
21	* In ''Film/{{Thor}}'', the scene of Thor and Selvig [[INeedAFreakingDrink getting a drink at the local bar]] after getting Thor out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody opens with a pool table shot.
22	* A rack is broken in ''Film/CapricornOne'' to open the scene where IntrepidReporter Caulfield meets his contact in a bar. The contact starts explaining that the mission's telemetry is completely wrong, but when Caulfield gets distracted, his contact has vanished.
23	* In ''Film/Deadpool2016'', the scene at the bar where the recruiter approaches Wade starts with a pool table shot.
24	* One of the scene at the youth club in ''Film/DazedAndConfused'' starts with an overhead shot of a rack being broken by one of the characters.
25	* A bar scene in ''Film/ABeautifulMind'' starts off with one character breaking the rack.
26	* The second scene of ''Film/KissTheGirls'' at the night club where Casanova picks up a new victim is kicked off by a billiard shot.
27	[[/folder]]
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29	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
30	* In ''Series/TheWestWing'' episode "Manchester Part II", the scenes go from flashback to present. One "present" scene opens with the camera on a pool table in the bar the senior staff is hanging out in.
31	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "A Game of Pool" starts with one of these. The camera follows the ball's trajectory, then focuses on Jack Klugman's character's reaction to it.
32	* Played straight and then lampshaded by Abed in ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" when the scene cuts to the group at Britta's bar and we see a close-up of Abed breaking a rack.
33	-->'''Abed''': You guys think bar scenes always have to start at a billiards shot? Or do you think every time someone takes a shot in billiards they start a new bar scene without knowing it?
34	* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': After the Kitchen Irish are massacred in the second season premiere, such a shot is used to cut to Matt, Karen and Foggy playing pool at Josie's, or rather, Matt and Foggy standing on the side as Karen sinks balls effortlessly.
35	* In the pilot of ''Series/AlteredCarbon'', Kovacs invites Ortega for a drink. The scene then cuts to a bar scene that starts off with a pool table shot.
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Video Games]]
39	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': At the Nest bar in [[PortTown Harbor Town]], a patron sinks all the balls in a pool table once Ann gets nearby.
40	[[/folder]]
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42	[[folder:Western Animation]]
43	* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Coop, the first soldier in "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E6RickAndMortysThanksploitationSpectacular Rick and Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular]], gets introduced striking a pool ball.
44	* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': "The Intergalactic 147" (the original series finale) shows that a galaxy-wide game of snooker is underway with a rocket-propelled cue stick hitting a white sphere which has already knocked Mars into a black hole. Earth is the next to be pocketed to gain the maximum score of 147, so DM races the clock to save the planet.
45	[[/folder]]

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